This slide presentation is part of the weekly Open Social Media Initiative workshop series. This workshop provides tips for creating a blog that is findable, engaging, readable, converts and adds value.

1. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
Open Social Media Education
A Captive Touch Initiative
Host: Sherry Nouraini
Founder/President
Captive Touch
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2. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
Please Help Spread the Education
• Use the Hashtag #opensm
• Tweet the tips you hear
•Questions? Ask on my G+ profile
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3. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
Topic of Our Workshop Today
What Does it Take to
Create an effective blog?
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4. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
Some statistics
• How many blogs are there?
As of 7/3/2012 there are 1,304,902
registered on Technorati.com
• Sharing on social media platforms
 Average half-life of a status
update
Twitter 4 min.
Facebook 1 hour 22 min.
keep in mind only 16% of your
fans see your posts
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5. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
What do I mean by effective?
• It is clickable
• It is engaging
• It is readable
• It converts
• It is findable (SEO and other)
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6. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
Your links
Title
Social share Signup box
Image
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7. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
What do I mean by readable?
• Large font
• Double space
• Point form
• Concise
• Has personality (branding)
• Adds value
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8. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
What about tools?
Major blogging platforms:
•Word press
Wordpress.com
Wordpress.org (self hosted)
• Blogger (Google)
•Tumblr
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9. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
Self-hosted Wordpress blog, what do you need?
1- Hosting company that preferably already provides
Wordpress. A popular hosting company is HostGator
(www.hostgator.com ).
2- Nice looking template.
3- Some basic knowledge of html/css.
4- A FTP client that would allow you to FTP files up to
your server. A free FTP software I use is Filezilla http://
filezilla-project.org/
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10. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
What about tools?
Promoting your blog:
• Collaboration
Triberr
Favo.rs
Join Facebook groups
Linkedin Groups
•SEO
SEO for Wordpress by Yoast
Google Plus
• Referral sites
Stumble Upon
Pinterest
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11. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
Other tips
•Twitter
 Change your title, share again
• Pinterest
 Make your images pin worthy
• Google Analytics
 Keep an eye on traffic
Check out social visitor flow
to understand which social network
brings you more conversion.
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12. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
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13. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
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14. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
Other tips
• Don’t just share news
• Don’t re-blog
• Don’t be deceiving with your titles
• Strive to be a thought leader by
 Inspiring change
 Presenting new ideas
 Provoking thought
BUT
• Don’t be provocative just to get comments
and attention
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15. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
Remember this
The purpose of your blog should be
• Offering information about your biz
• Showing your expertise
• Capturing leads
• Serving your audience/clients better
You are in business to serve while getting
paid doing it, strive to serve with integrity.
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16. Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is
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